We Pause

this regularly scheduled program where I talk about my failures as a wife and mom to brag.

Trysten is a smart kid. There, I said it, he's smart and I'm so proud of him. The last few months have been a true pleasure for me as I've watched him fall madly in love with reading. Since I'm quite a book lover myself, I beam at the notion that he'll follow me in this area alone.

For Christmas each year the kids get a book from Zach and me. We take our time figuring out what they are in to and make it just for them. We write a little note in the front about why we picked it and what year it is. This past year he's gotten really into chapter books and devours them with some amazing speed. We, on a whim, got him Book 1 of the Captain Underpants series knowing a) he loves series and b) he loves discussing every single aspect of underpants. He finished the book in about 20 minutes.



A few days ago his Grandpa Frank picked him up from school (a special surprise he does for Trysten every once in awhile) and proceeded to buy him the next 4 books in the series as well as a few others. He also invested in a little bookmark timer. When we met for dinner to swap Trysten (a mere 3 hours after school got out) Trysten had read for over an hour already. We had to beg him to put his book down at the dinner table. By the next day he had 2 of them finished. The day after that and they're all complete. He's now reading them for the second time.

It's no wonder he goes to a different class for reading, right? Can you feel me beaming over here or what?

And then today he came home to tell me that he earned a piece of gum from his teacher because he was the only kid in class who went and sat down quietly as his desk when his teacher asked him to (Trysten did also divulge that he did this so he could read a few more pages in his book).

Then the real kicker. He showed me this bracelet. It has a little red hand (high five) on it. It's a program they have at his school where if one of the kids is exemplifying a core value (things like caring, honesty, respect and responsibility) then they will receive a little hand bracelet. The key is that it's anonymous, they have no idea who gave it to them or what exactly they did. This teaches them to just do it all the time and once in awhile they might get "caught". Well he was "caught" being responsible today.




As his reward for all of the above he got to stay up a little later than usual. I could listen to him talk forever. 2 examples of his precious personality.
1) We were in church Sunday and he leans over to me during worship and says "Amasenganalaw (Ethiopian way of saying "thank you") for being the best mom in the world)
2) Tonight after he was done eating he says, "Mom, can I please be excused, not because I want to get up but because I want to sit on your lap because I love you so much."

Seriously, please God don't let this one grow up.